HARRISON – As the defense challenged Bull Shoals police officer David Chatman's credibility Wednesday in Daniel Sutterfield's trial, Nicholas Dore told a federal jury he remembered being struck in the head with a shotgun and tazed, but other details of the incident that led to charges against Sutterfield are "blurry."

Sutterfield, the Bull Shoals police chief, is charged with using excessive force against Dore after he'd been taken into custody during a domestic disturbance call last summer, and with falsifying a report about the incident.

Chatman, back on the stand for a second day, told the jury he had typed about five paragraphs of the incident report when Sutterfield sat next to him and began telling him what to put in the report. "He would give me fragments, and I would make them into sentences," Chatman testified.

When asked if he included something in the report that had not happened, under Sutterfield's direction, Chatman responded he had.

"I told him I didn't remember that happening," Chatman said. "He said it did, put it in there."

Chatman was asked if he failed to include anything that occurred during Dore's arrest, and Chatman responded he had left things out. "It left out Mr. Sutterfield striking Mr. Dore with the shotgun," Chatman said.

It also left out Sutterfield throwing Dore into a fireplace and against a wall, Chatman told the jury.

One of the allegations against Sutterfield is that he tased Dore multiple times after Dore was handcuffed. For that allegation, Chatman's testimony was helpful to the defense as he told the jury he could not recall Sutterfield tasing Dore after he was handcuffed.

Chatman was asked why he lied in the report. "I was in fear of losing my job," Chatman said. "I knew if I put those things in there, there would be repercussions."

Three days after the July 9 incident, Chatman testified, he arrested Dore for violating the no-contact order prohibiting him from contact with his live-in girlfriend, Cleta Almond. During that arrest, Chatman said, he could smell alcohol on Dore, but the man did not yell and curse as he had during the previous arrest.

Chatman testified while he had to ask Dore three times to put his hands behind his back, he did not need to use any force to arrest him.

“So, you'll lie when it benefits you won't you?”

Bruce Eddy, defense counsel's question to David Chatman

Defense challenge

When defense attorney Bruce Eddy cross-examined Chatman, he immediately went to work to shatter Chatman's credibility with the jury. Under Eddy's cross-examination, Chatman admitted he was forced to resign from the Boone County Sheriff's Office after medication turned up missing, although Chatman testified the medication in question did not disappear on his shift.

Eddy then asked Chatman if he was forced out of the Flippin Police Department, where he had worked part-time as a patrol officer. Chatman denied he was kicked out, but rather he chose to resign. Eddy drilled Chatman about the circumstances surrounding his resignation.

Chatman admitted a female city employee made an allegation that he touched her inappropriately. Chatman said he chose to resign rather than face intense scrutiny in the local newspaper.

Eddy then reminded Chatman that he had just testified he lied in his report to save his job.

"So, you'll lie when it benefits you, won't you?" Eddy asked Chatman, pointing out he was getting immunity from prosecution for his testimony.

Chatman also testified he never saw Sutterfield kick or stomp Dore, two more allegations prosecutors have made in the case.

U.S. Attorney Cindy Chung tried to repair Chatman's credibility with the jury. Under Chung's questioning, Chatman again told the jury the only immunity he had was for his testimony before the grand jury and the testimony he gives during the current trial. His limited immunity, Chatman said, does not include statements he made to FBI agents during his interrogation.

Chatman said he admitted to FBI agents that he falsified his report, and that the government told him it intends to file charges.

Prime witness

Dore then took the stand and, after identifying pictures of the home he shares with Almond, told his version of what happened.

Dore said he had been drinking that day and was asleep on the couch when Almond came home early in the afternoon and woke him up. The two argued, Almond threw some mail at him, and that's when Dore says he assaulted her.

"I don't want to minimize it," Dore told the jury. "I squeezed her neck. Not very hard, and just for a millisecond."

Dore said after Almond left he was puttering in the garage when he saw "people" approach his home. Dore testified he closed his garage door and went into the house. He further testified he did not hear officers shouting at him, announcing themselves and telling him to open the door.

He laid down on the couch, covered up with a blanket, and that's when Dore said his world exploded.

"The door was breached, and the officers entered yelling, 'Get down, get down," Dore said. "Once they were on top of me, everything was a tornado."

Dore admitted his memory is hazy about what occurred after officers entered his house. There were things Dore testified he did remember, though.

Dore told the jury he remembered Sutterfield hitting him in the head with a shotgun, and that he was tased multiple times. "I was struck hard enough to render me unconscious," Dore said. "I was tased so many times I couldn't count."

Dore says the shotgun strike was so brutal that once he was led outside his house, he had no recollection of what occurred after that for several hours, including how he got home from the Marion County jail several hours later.

Eddy began his cross-examination of Dore and quickly attempted to paint Dore as dangerous in the jury's eyes. Under Eddy's questioning, Dore told the jury that he knows three different martial arts disciplines and practices them on a regular basis. Dore also said he kept a gun under his bed.

During Eddy's questioning, Dore once again told the jury his memory of the events that day were not entirely clear.

"A large portion of it is definitely blurry," Dore told the jury.

Quick trio of witnesses

In other testimony Wednesday, Flippin Police Chief Dusty Smith said he told his officers to quit cooperating with Bull Shoals officers and only respond to Bull Shoals if an officer or a citizen's life were in danger.

Smith also testified that despite the fact there were more experienced officers in the Bull Shoals Police Department, officers who were certified, Chatman was given narcotics and criminal investigative duties. Smith testified those duties generally are reserved for officers who have more experience than Chatman.

Smith also testified Chatman was not eligible to be rehired by the Flippin Police Department.

FBI agent Tim Akins told the jury he and another agent traveled to the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in Pocahontas to interview Chatman, who was there for certification training. Akins said the agents had Chatman in a room for approximately six to seven hours during the interview process, though sometimes the agents left Chatman alone as they stepped out to discuss things.

Early in the interview process, Akins said, Chatman's story began to change. At first, Akins told the jury, Chatman told agents his report was correct and he stood by it. However, Chatman's story soon changed.

"I would say it was about 45 minutes into the interview when Mr. Chatman started being honest with us," said Akins.

Prosecutors scored when they used Akins to introduce a recording of a telephone conversation between Chatman and Sutterfield. Initially, the conversation sounded good for the defense as Sutterfield told Chatman to cooperate with the FBI and tell them what happened.

Toward the end of the call, however, Sutterfield could be heard giving Chatman an instruction: "Tell them (the FBI) that I was very polite and the fight was on," Sutterfield told Chatman in the recording.

Kristi Kilgore, Almond's daughter, testified jury her mother did not know or associate with Sutterfield, and that her mother's only knowledge of Sutterfield was as chief of police.